in laser scanning optics, character generation electronics, and page-formatting software, was the first product on the market to be enabled by PARC research." According to IBM, "the very first IBM 3800 was installed in the central accounting office at F. W. Woolworth’s North American data center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1976." The IBM 3800 Printing System was the industry’s first high-speed, laser printer and operated at speeds of more than 100 impressions-per-minute. It was the first printer to combine laser technology and electrophotography, according to IBM.

In 1992, Hewlett-Packard released the popular LaserJet 4, the first 600 by 600 dots per inch resolution laser printer. In 1976, the inkjet printer was invented, but it took until 1988 for the inkjet to become a home consumer item with Hewlett-Parkard's release of the DeskJet inkjet printer, which was priced at a whopping $1000.

Computer Memory

Drum memory, an early form of computer memory that actually did use a drum as a working part with data loaded to the drum. The drum was a metal cylinder coated with recordable ferromagnetic material. The drum also had a row of read-write heads that wrote and then read the recorded data.

Magnetic core memory (ferrite-core memory) is another early form of computer memory. Magnetic ceramic rings called cores stored information using the polarity of a magnetic field.

Semiconductor memory is computer memory we are all familiar with. It’s basically a computer memory on an integrated circuit or chip. Referred to as random-access memory or RAM, it allowed data to be accessed randomly, not just in the sequence it was recorded.

Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is the most common kind of random access memory (RAM) for personal computers. The data the DRAM chip holds has to be periodically refreshed. In contrast, static random access memory or SRAM doesn't need to be refreshed.

Vocabulary:

computer peripherals – компьютерные периферийные устройства keypunche – перфорация

hypermedia – гипермедиа groupware – групповая работа

rudimentary mouse – рудиментарная мышь collaborator

laser beam – лазерный луч whopping – колоссальный

drum memory – память на магнитном барабане magnetic core memory – память на магнитном сердечнике magnetic field – магнитное поле

random-access memory – оперативная память

dynamic random access memory – динамическая оперативная память static random access memory – статическая оперативная память

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